How the West was done: The men who made Western United happen

Western United players walk on to stage during the A-League 2019-20 season launch.Credit:Getty Images

It has been a helter-skelter 10 months, but the men behind Western United have put together a club, signed players and created something from nothing.

Ahead of their first A-League game on Sunday, playing away at Wellington Phoenix, we talk to the key players about building a club from scratch.

The concept

It was an idea that first stirred in Steve Horvat's mind years ago.

The former Socceroos central defender grew up in Geelong and early in his career developed his game at the Melbourne Knights, the club formed by passionate Croatian supporters and based at Sunshine in Melbourne's west.

By then retired after a career in Europe and at home, Horvat watched the new A-League start up in 2005 with great interest.

Knowing the region so well he had always felt that a club could be based out in the western suburbs of Melbourne – a club that could tap into the immigrant population that was driving the construction boom and the demographic change that was occurring in the region.

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So when the chance came to go again and bid for the 11th franchise licence for an expanding A-League, Horvat saw an opportunity to pull together several interested parties to try to make his dream of a club for the west come true.

He is not the money man behind Western United, but he is certainly one of its champions: a man whose playing career gave the initial concept credibility.

Key figures in the creation of Western United: Steve Horvat (left) and Lou Sticca.Credit:Eddie Jim

"Initially my thinking was about basing a club in Geelong. It's where I grew up and learned my football and I knew there was a core of supporters for the game there – enough, I felt, to give a new side a base," Horvat said.

"The working title was Victoria Patriots, but that was never going to be the name. Lou Sticca got involved to give some help and then we started to try to get backers.

"We felt that we needed something really different for this club to work. I knew that there was support in the west and we could tap into a big geographical area that didn't have a team. We had seen how quickly Western Sydney Wanderers had grown.

"For us the key to this all was the plan to have our own stadium that we owned and controlled at all levels so that we would be able to capture all the value from the match-day crowds but also control our own destiny, that we wouldn't be at the mercy of other sports with the ground being used and the surface affected by other sports or concerts.

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"It all started to come together when we talked to local councils in the west, and the city of Wyndham decided to come on board as a partner. They shared our vision and are an important element in this story.

"What we want to do is build our own venue which will be a unique point of difference for us: no A-League club has its own ground. We want to appeal to all the fans in the west not just of Melbourne but also Victoria: we think the support is there, and that they are tribal and loyal.

Putting it into practice

The man who initially had to pull the business side together was ex-KPMG partner Maurice Bisetto. An accountant with decades of experience in business – he ran KPMG's audit practice in Melbourne – he was brought in by Horvat and Sticca.

"I was involved from the start but it certainly wasn't my idea. It was somewhere between Steve and Lou, both are claiming it," he says.

"Steve had a vision for Geelong, but that vision and mindset moved to the broader west of Melbourne over time.

"I was brought in at the inception of the A-League bid to help develop the partnership with Wyndham Council and to build our own stadium."

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Bisetto was a figure known in the Victorian soccer world but not at A-League level – having been involved with NPL team Moreland City as a player, coach and official for decades.

He wasn't part of the original group that came up with the Western United idea, but someone who could crunch the numbers was essential.

"The partnership we have with Wyndham Council is essentially a public-private partnership where they use private investment to build public infrastructure or community assets," Bisetto says.

"It's complex and I have had a fair bit of experience in the commerciality of these type of structures. That's been the main thing I have brought to the table," says Bisetto, who left KPMG after 30 years in the financial sector.

Not that it was a hard choice, he says.

"The opportunity to have a second career in an industry you have a passion for is one that not a lot of people get.''

Throughout the bid process it appeared that south-eastern Melbourne-based applicant Team 11 was the likeliest winner but that, says Bisetto, didn't bother he, Sticca or Horvat.

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"We were never seen as a front runner but I didn't really understand why because no one really bothered to ask the questions about the fundamentals of our bid.

"We internally were always confident. The partnership we have struck with Wyndham Council is really unique and I think sets the benchmark for professional sport in Australia, full stop.

Panagiotis Kone in the green and black of Western United.Credit:AAP

"The ability to apply value capture to building and owning your own stadium is a game changer.

''We didn't play the political and media game like a lot of the bids. We just stuck to our knitting and focused on the partnerships we had and the strength of our stakeholders, especially Wyndham Council, and we were always pretty confident."

The consortium had bid, depending on which reports you believe, anything between $12 million and $20 million to secure the license. Bisetto will not comment.

"I can't clarify any financial details but I think the point is that our private investment group were really an important factor through the process. The equity contribution they were making to secure the robustness of our bid was really very important."

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Building the entity in a short time was not a simple job.

"We focused on the football department and employed coaches [head coach Mark Rudan and assistant coaches John Hutchinson and John Anastasiadis] and other staff.

"We quickly recruited a commercial team, executive officers, a CFO and whilst all that was happening we found office space, computer equipment, phones. We had to find a logo, create our colours, find a name all the while connecting to the community.

The fact that we are able to really define a demographic was very important. I am not sure Victory or City have really identified with a specific demographic.

Maurice Bisetto

"There were probably seven streams of activity running concurrently that dealt with resourcing, people, football, technology, branding and the legalities around structures and shareholder agreements and all the important contracts, charters, constitutions – it's been a whirlwind."

Finding a training ground and venue to play at were also logistical issues that needed to be dealt with.

"We looked at many options for training grounds and partnering with clubs before deciding to go with Sunshine Georgies at Caroline Springs. They designed it to our requirements, which was a godsend. Outside of Wyndham Council it's a really key partnership."

The club will play most of its home games at Geelong's GMHBA Stadium, with a handful at Mars Stadium in Ballarat.

"We have no concerns about that. We have no base line for attendances; I am expecting a bit of a variation of crowds but I expect the derbies will be reasonably well-attended.

"We are in a results-based business. If we start to win some games, and we have a pretty interesting first five games, then crowds will grow."

Tribalism is, he says, important in the west.

"The fact that we are able to really define a demographic was very important. I am not sure Victory or City have really identified with a specific demographic," Bisetto says.

"Victory had first-mover advantage and it was going to be really difficult to stuff that one up.

"City – there are a lot of question marks within the football community about who identifies with them. We have marked the boundary and our demographic is clear. I think that's what won us the bid."

Building the squad

Lou Sticca was the man, along with Horvat, who was responsible for driving the vision of a team from the west.

As an experienced soccer businessman and player agent, Sticca knew the ins and outs of recruitment and how to attract players.

Alessandro Diamanti is Western United's first captain.Credit:AAP

He had done it before when he had recruited the first Sydney FC team, including former Manchester United star Dwight Yorke, which went on to win the inaugural A-League championship.

He had worked closely with Sydney to get Alessandro Del Piero, probably the biggest star to have played in the competition, some years later.

He quickly set about building a squad and finding a coach for Western United.

"As soon as we got the licence we looked to identify the coaching staff and then the players. Working in the industry as a player agent and having done this numerous times before I was pretty comfortable with what we were going to be able to put together," Sticca says.

"Given the potential rebuild at a number of A-League clubs and the scarcity of new talent the pool to recruit from is small.

"We decided was that we would have to move real quickly. We couldn't wait until the end of the A-League season to start recruiting, so we did a lot of work while it was going on."

He explained his methodology in creating a new roster.

"I tend to recruit in groups. You have 23 players on the roster. You have four or five visa spots, out of the 23 you can have up to two marquees.

"Then you look at established A-League players, Socceroos playing in other markets that might want to come home, other players in the A-League, young ones, NPL level players who could step up.

"It's quite strategic, it's not ad hoc.''

Inaugural Western United coach Mark Rudan.Credit:AAP

Then there was the matter of recruiting head coach Mark Rudan, who quit one year into a two-year deal with Wellington Phoenix to take the Western job.

"I started down the path of foreign coaches. I have done that before [having recruited Pierre Littbarksi for Sydney's first season] and I had a number of meetings overseas with candidates.

"I was watching the A-League and the usual suspects like Kevin Muscat and Tony Popovic were doing so well and Rudan was winning rave reviews with what he was doing at Wellington.

"It became apparent very early on that we wanted to hit the ground running and it would be more straightforward with a local. It's a tough job to bring someone in from overseas who is not used to salary cap, roster sizes.

"When it became clear in my mind and I thought about money, assistant coaches, money to invest in support staff, money to invest in players, it was becoming clearer that we needed to look at the Australian option better.

"They would know more about the opposition teams and what would be required to be competitive."

Creating the right club culture was also essential, Sticca says.

"We are very strong on culture, on a proper football environment, proper football people starting from the head coaches through to strength and conditioning, football manager: no gimmicks.

"We interviewed coaches in the first week of January. I recruited a general manager of footy ops, interviewed John Anastasiadis and John Hutchinson and others as early as January.

"As I worked in the industry I knew who was available, who was not available, what the expectations were.

"Scott McDonald was easy, he wanted to come home, Connor Chapman wanted to come back from Korea, BJ Haill and Josh Risdon were coming out of contract at Wanderers.

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"Filip Kurto had an outstanding season [at Wellington]; he was only on a one-year deal. Given the scarcity of established No.1 keepers I had to jump all over that one, he was a no-brainer.

"There was a young player in the NPL that was doing very well, Valentino Yuel, I had a word with John Anastasiadis [who coached successfully in the NPL]; he said this boy had something and I asked could he go to A-League level and John said yes."

'"He had missed the January transfer deadline so we got into his head about Australia. That was the end of February. I think we got him out here in March to do his medicals and sign up."

Kone was a solid get but the jewel in Western United's crown is Alessandro Diamanti, the newly appointed club captain.

He too had to be sold on the idea of coming to Australia, especially with a wife and three school-age children, but Sticca's dealings with Del Piero and the fact that he spoke Italian was an obvious help.

How hard was it to sell players on the idea of a start-up club, one that had no home ground, no supporters and no identity to speak of at the time?

"It wasn't a hard sell," says Sticca.

"Once they listened to me, the coaching staff and Mark [Rudan], we were all pretty passionate about selling the club and the geography of the area.

"Most Australian players have experienced some sort of start-up exposure, and we sold the whole vision of the club.

"We have a massive population to win over. We have our own identity to create, it's very much the west and new football fans.

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"We told them about playing in two stadia, not being in the CBD, and nobody red-flagged it. I think everyone is excited about the journey and sees the bigger picture, how it's all real football people involved.

"We hadn't sugar coated it. It's going to be a challenge.

"You negotiate the money, but everyone goes into these deals with eyes wide open. "